Neil J. Gunther facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Neil James Gunther
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Neil Gunther at Bletchley Park 2002
"A quantum leap is neither" |
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| Born | 15 August 1950 Preston, Victoria, Australia
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| Alma mater | La Trobe University University of Southampton |
| Known for | Performance analysis Capacity planning tools Theory of large transients Universal scalability law |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computational information systems (classical and quantum) |
| Institutions | San Jose State University Syncal Corporation Xerox Palo Alto Research Center Performance Dynamics Company (Founder) École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) |
| Doctoral advisor | Tomas M. Kalotas (Honors) Christie J. Eliezer (Masters) David J. Wallace (Doctorate) |
Neil Gunther, born on August 15, 1950, is a smart computer scientist from Australia. He's famous for creating special software that helps computers work faster and more efficiently. He also came up with a "Guerrilla approach" to plan how much computer power is needed. Neil is known for his ideas about how computer systems grow and handle more work, which he calls the "universal law of computational scalability." He's a top member of important computer groups like the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
He is currently working on exciting new technologies called quantum information systems.
Contents
Biography
Neil Gunther was born in Melbourne, Australia, on August 15, 1950. As a child, he loved doing science experiments. For his tenth birthday, he received a book called The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments. This book inspired him to start his own small chemistry laboratory in his garage!
He was very interested in how things like detergents and oils were made. He even tried to predict the color of certain dyes, but he realized he needed to learn more about quantum theory to fully understand it.
Early Career and Space Missions
After finishing his studies, Gunther taught physics at San Jose State University from 1980 to 1981.
He then joined a company called Syncal Corporation. This company worked with NASA and JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) on deep-space missions. Gunther helped analyze data from the Voyager spacecraft's power sources, called RTGs. His work helped JPL choose better materials for the Galileo mission, which launched in 1989.
Working at Xerox PARC
In 1982, Gunther started working at Xerox PARC. This was a famous research center where many important computer ideas were born. He helped develop software for making computer chips.
Later, he joined the "Dragon" project, which was about building powerful multiprocessor computers. Here, he created a tool called PARCbench to test how well these computers performed. This was his first big step into analyzing computer performance.
Helping Computers Run Faster
In 1990, Gunther joined Pyramid Technology. He became a senior scientist and led a team that made sure their Unix computers ran very fast. They worked to achieve high scores on tests that measure how many transactions a computer can handle.
Starting His Own Company
In 1994, Gunther started his own company called Performance Dynamics Company. He helped other businesses make their computer systems run better. He focused on understanding how computers perform and planning how much power they need. He also wrote several books to share his knowledge, including The Practical Performance Analyst.
Current Research Interests
Quantum Information Systems
Since 2004, Gunther has been researching quantum information systems. This field combines ideas from quantum mechanics and computer science. He has developed a theory about how light particles, called photons, can split. This theory is being tested at a university in Switzerland called École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.
His work helps us understand how light behaves and how it can be used to process information.
Performance Visualization
Gunther also explores ways to help computer experts see how well systems are performing. This is like creating a visual map of a computer's activity.
In 1991, he created a tool called Barry. It uses a special coordinate system to show how much a computer's CPU (the "brain" of the computer) is being used on large systems. More recently, he has used similar methods to visualize how fast applications respond. He also helps lead a group called PerfViz, which focuses on visualizing performance data.
Universal Law of Computational Scalability
Neil Gunther developed a special rule called the Universal Law of Computational Scalability. This rule helps predict how well a computer system will perform as you add more processors or users.
The rule is shown by this formula: 
Here, N is the number of processors or users. The letters 
, 
, and 
represent different things that affect performance:
- (alpha) shows how much contention there is. This means how much different parts of the system have to wait for shared resources.
- (beta) shows coherency delay. This is how long it takes for data to be consistent across different parts of the system. It also helps explain why performance can sometimes get worse when you add too many users.
- (gamma) shows concurrency, which is how much work the system can do at the same time.
This law helps engineers understand where to make improvements in computer hardware or software to make them run faster and handle more work.
Awards
- Senior Member ACM (elected April 2009).
- Senior Member IEEE (elected February 2009).
- Recipient of the A. A. Michelson Award, December 2008.
- Summer Research Institute visitor, EPFL 2006 and 2007.
- Lecturer, Western Institute of Computer Science, Stanford University, 1997–2000.
- Best paper award, CMG conference 1996.
- Visiting Scholar in Materials Science, Stanford University, 1981–1982.
- Science Research Council Studentship, U.K. 1976–1980.
- Commonwealth Postgraduate Scholarship, Australia 1975–1976.
